Long-term Ecological Research Programme in Forestry Research Institute, Korea

Forest vegetation in Korea can be largely divided into warm temperate, cool temperate and frigid forest zone. The cool temperate forest zone of them occupies the largest part of the Korean peninsula and it is generally divided into three subdivisions such as northern, central and southern subzone. The Forestry Research Institute established three long-term ecological research sites at Kwangnung Experiment Forest in the central subzone of the cool temperate forest zone, at the Mt. Kyebangsan Forest in the northern subzone of the cool temperate forest zone. and at the Mt. Keumsan Forest in the warm temperate forest zone. The objectives of long-term ecological research in the Forestry Research Institute, Korea are to study long-term changes of the forest ecosystems in energy fluxes, water and nutrient cycling, forest stand structure, biological diversity, to quantify nutrient budgets and fluxes among forest ecosystem compartments and to integrate ecological data with a GIS - assisted model. To achieve the objectives, forest stand dynamics. environmental changes in soil properties, stream water quality, nutrient cycling, air pollution and biological diversity have been investigated and plant phonology as an indicator of climate change has been monitored in the LTER sites.